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RICHMOND HILL, ONT. — If anyone was wondering why Alberta’s premier spent the weekend campaigning for the Conservatives in Toronto’s suburbs, 3,000 kilometres away from his province, all they had to do was watch Jason Kenney work the room at a Chinese dim sum event on Sunday afternoon.

In his speech to the crowd of about 300 people, Kenney hit all the usual Conservative campaign talking points: scrapping the carbon tax, bringing in a universal tax cut, supporting small businesses. But then he went into an extended bit on immigration that shows why he’s such an asset to the Conservatives in a multicultural region that often makes or breaks governments during elections.

“I was very proud as Canada’s immigration minister for five years to welcome 1.3 million newcomers to Canada, including over 150,000 from China,” Kenney told the crowd. “And I think that was a success. But not only was the Conservative immigration policy generous, it also was based on fairness.”

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The crowd of about 300 people started applauding and cheering on that point.

“We sent the message that if you wanted to come to Canada, you should come legally through the front door waiting your turn in the line, not sneaking around it by cutting the queue. That’s not right. It’s not the Canadian way. And we need a fair immigration system.”

Kenney delivers this message with a credibility and enthusiasm that few other Conservative politicians can match. He combines it with urging tough-on-crime policies and support for entrepreneurs that also go down well politically in these suburban, immigrant-heavy communities.

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As immigration minister in Stephen Harper’s government from 2008 to 2013, Kenney famously pushed these messages at event after event with cultural communities in the Greater Toronto Area. And it worked, helping deliver the Conservatives a near-sweep of the 905 region in 2011. The Liberals, however, reversed that tide in the last election; now Kenney is back in the GTA, aiming to give the Conservatives a boost in what looks to be a very close election campaign.

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has his photo taken with supporters during a ‘Dim Sum’ event with members of the Chinese community, at Premiere Ballroom and Convention Centre. Richmond Hill, Ont., October 6, 2019.Nick Kozak/ Postmedia News

“The federal party doesn’t need me down here,” Kenney insisted at one event, speaking to reporters afterward. “I don’t have any illusions that my visit here doing 18 events or so is somehow going to be decisive at the federal election. But it’s a little bit of encouragement for some campaigns that are right on the bubble.”

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There is also the awkward fact that while Alberta’s premier is pitching Ontario crowds on voting for Andrew Scheer, Ontario Premier Doug Ford is nowhere to be seen. Polls have strongly suggested that Ford’s controversial government may be costing Scheer votes, and Ford has kept the legislature on break and stayed largely out of sight.

If the events are anything to go by, Kenney remains as popular as ever in this region. “Please, don’t crowd onto the stage,” the MC at the Chinese event had to ask the crowd after Kenney’s speech finished. Lines formed to the back of the room for attendees to get a photo with him.

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“Everyone likes Jason,” said a Chinese man, who only gave his name as Al, to the National Post after he got his photo taken. “During his years when he was an immigration minister federally, he was doing lots of events with the Chinese community. And he learned some Chinese, as you heard today. Yeah, so he is quite popular in the Chinese community.”

Earlier on Sunday, before the Chinese event, Kenney attended services in Mississauga at a Coptic Christian church and then an Iraqi Chaldean church. Later on Sunday, he was off to a Sikh gurdwara in Brampton. The night before, Kenney had dinner in at a mosque in Vaughan. Saturday morning, he visited four synagogues in northern Toronto. This is vintage Kenney, keeping up a relentless pace of appearances.

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“He was the hardest working MP I ever met,” said Daniel Lee, the Conservative candidate in the suburban riding of Willowdale, while introducing Kenney to his campaign volunteers. Lee is the former president of the Korean Canadian Cultural Association, and — no surprise — recalled his many meetings with Kenney as immigration minister. “I don’t know how he did it, he’d do 20 events in a weekend,” Lee said.

When Kenney visited campaign offices — he made stops in North York, Etobicoke, and Brampton — he served a different function. He was rallying the troops, giving the volunteers extra motivation to get out in the ridings and knock doors.

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But he also included his pitch for Scheer in these speeches to volunteers, and he hinted at the notion that Scheer isn’t exactly igniting fires of inspiration in right-leaning voters.

“Now, sometimes people say to me — conservatives, usually — why can’t (Scheer) be more aggressive?” Kenney said at the office of Teresa Kruze, another Conservative candidate. “Well, folks, I’ll tell you why. Because he’s actually just a really nice guy … I call him a severely normal Canadian. And you know what, okay, maybe he’s more shy than our Prime Minister. Maybe he actually has a bit of humility. And maybe he doesn’t compete with the charisma of our current Prime Minister. But you know what, is it such a terrible thing to have somebody who’s fundamentally nice, decent and honest? I call that being a Canadian.”

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The Liberals, meanwhile, sent out their own candidates to shadow Kenney over the weekend and try to undermine his message.

“I think it’s very clear that Andrew Scheer isn’t connecting with Ontarians broadly, and he doesn’t have anybody in his team that’s connecting,” said Mark Holland, the incumbent Liberal in Ajax, at one of Kenney’s stops in Etobicoke. “So they’re trying to reach in the past to somebody who used to do that job for Stephen Harper.”

That is the potential danger for the Conservatives in having Kenney on the election trail: his formidable campaigning skills might actually outshine their own leader’s. Kenney, however, told reporters that he made the trip simply because it makes sense to.

“My deepest political roots federally have over the past 15 years have often been here in the GTA,” he said. “And it’s no secret that this is the key battleground in the federal election. So that’s why I’m here.”

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